1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pipe anchor bracket.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For many years a need has existed for a heavy duty bracket for attaching pipes to supporting structures. One area where the need has been more obvious than others is in railroad cars where utility and accessory pipes are customarily suspended from the undercarriage of the car in an exposed manner. In such an application it is important that the brackets that support the pipes are heavy duty and able to accommodate heavy loads in addition to the stress and treatment occuring in the operation of the railroad car. Additionally, since frequently the pipes pass through openings in the undercarriage, it is important that the bracket be able to center the pipe in the opening in addition to providing support for the pipe. Practical requirements for such a bracket are that it be low in cost and easy to assemble and attach. Prior to the present design, no design for a bracket has been provided which fulfills these needs.
A review of prior designs for pipe anchor brackets reveals several design approaches, but each is critically deficient in an area of importance if their use is attempted in railroad car support. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,141,222, a pipe anchor bracket is disclosed, but the locking mechanism and construction of the bracket are not sufficient to provide a heavy duty use, and if applied under a railroad car, it could not withstand the treatment to which it is subjected. Additionally, the bracket consists of two separately designed pieces, the production of which would be costly.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,625,354, a pipe anchor bracket for railroad cars is disclosed which meets the requirements of being heavy duty, but the system of attachment to the undercarriage is expensive, and the bracket consists of three separately designed pieces resulting in an undue and unnecessary expense for an item of high volume. Additionally, the installation is made difficult not only by the complexity of attachment but by the necessity of attachment of multiple parts. Inventory and control of a number of different parts provides an additional problem in that design.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,708,299 discloses a cable clamp which overcomes the problem of multiple parts, but the attachment system is expensive and time consuming, and the design is toward a stationary system and would not be of sufficient heavy duty design to be adaptable to railroad car usage.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,185,419 discloses a pipe hanger making use of identical parts mated together, but the design is not heavy duty and would not withstand the treatment expected in a moving system. In addition, only one type of attachment is made possible with the hanger, and that attachment requires a channel-shaped beam, the omission of which makes the hanger inoperable. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 3,650,449 provides a very similiar system differing only in the method of attaching the two hanger parts to each other to secure the pipe therebetween.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,295,806 is still another example of a pipe anchor bracket wherein a multiplicity of parts provides a system incapable of heavy duty use and having most of the deficiencies associated with the prior discussed patents.
The new and novel type hanger bracket disclosed in the present invention overcomes all of the deficiencies of the prior systems and provides the first design for a pipe anchor bracket that meets all of the needs of the industry.